Angry Birds studio loses another CEO

Rovio CEO Pekka Rantala has left the Finnish mobile games maker after just 16 months on the job.

Rantala took over from co-founder Mikael Hed in August 2014, but after a difficult year which saw mass job losses, a disappointing response to Angry Birds 2 and slowing momentum for 2016's ambitious animated Angry Birds Movie, he has now been replaced by former head of legal and EMEA sales Kati Levoranta.

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Hed will lead Rovio's media and licensing business under the new structure, while Whilhem Taht will run the games unit.

Rovio has already admitted that it over-expanded following the enormous success of its original Angry Birds mobile game. Its profits fell 75 percent alone in 2014, down to £7.3 million, after short lived success with licensed spin-offs for movies including Star Wars and Rio.

Redundancies followed, and in an attempt to boost its fortunes the company switched to a free-to-play structure for Angry Birds 2. But despite 50 million (free) downloads in a single month, the new game failed to grab audiences and disappeared from the top grossing app store charts in short order. Most recently, in August, Rovio announced 260 job cuts from across its business -- a process Rovio described as "a period of change" that "strengthened the company’s focus".

Kaj Hed, Rovio's chairman, said that the company would return "back to our entrepreneurial roots" under its new CEO, "with the leaner, more agile organisation that Pekka leaves us with" -- that means more games, fewer employees, and fewer theme parks. "I want to thank Pekka for his dedication, change leadership and for steering Rovio through challenging times," said Levoranta in a statement. "We are now positioned to make the most of the release of The Angry Birds Movie in May and some exciting developments in the games and consumer products portfolios throughout 2016."

The Angry Birds Movie is out in 2016 with an all-star cast, including Jason Sudeikis and Peter Dinklage.